Fumito Ueda Wonders How Long It Will Take for Sony to Realize He’s Not Working on The Last Guardian

In a rare interview with Fumito Ueda about the status of The Last Guardian, it was revealed that he barely works on the game and is mostly biding his time collecting paychecks until Sony catches on.Despite Ico and Shadow of the Colossus director Fumito Ueda leaving Sony back in 2011, he is still under contract with them to finish The Last Guardian. In a rare tour of Team ICO’s headquarters, Ueda told Dengeki PlayStation that he is glad someone came to visit him as he is tired of sitting around doing nothing.

“For some reason, people keep expecting this game to get finished,” said Ueda, “I quit Sony because I was tired of working on The Last Guardian and knew it would take decades for it to get done. Unfortunately, I should have read the fine print better so now I am just sitting here collecting paychecks until Sony releases me from my contract. Honestly, I do not remember the last time I worked on the game.”

While walking around the studios with Ueda, Dengeki PlayStation reported that he was asked multiple questions by Team ICO staff members to which he answered with silence. Ueda commented that this is a common occurrence around the office.

“I am still technically in charge although I have made no real decisions in the last few years,” explained Ueda, “Sony keeps hiring people thinking the game will be made faster if they keep hiring. It takes a few days for newcomers to learn that I will not answer them. They think it is some creative exercise when in reality I could not care less about what they have to say. I am positive some of them still have not met me because I am locked up in my office all day playing Mario Kart.”

Ueda seemed very calm and collected throughout the entire interview. Coincidentally, a major Sony executive was also scheduled to meet with Ueda on the same day to discuss the progress of The Last Guardian. Dengeki PlayStation was allowed to document the conversation. The following is an excerpt of the exchange:

Ikeda: Has a major milestone been met recently?

Ueda: No.

Ikeda: Could you elaborate on that answer?

Ueda: I am unsure of the progress made since the last time we talked.

Ikeda: It is always a mystery with you. Just by how you describe it, this sounds like one hell of a game.

Amazingly, Ueda forgot the name of the game he was supposed to be working on during the conversation. The executive took it as a joke and he left satisfied with the answers he received. Ueda does not understand how he keeps getting away with it.

“I feel bad every time I hear about Sony laying off people from other studios or just shutting them down entirely,” laughed Ueda, “It is probably my fault. You know, Sony would not have had to sell off their headquarters if they had only shut down Team ICO three years ago. Well, I do not care if this interview is published because then I can finally be free to make games that I actually want to work on.”

Ueda noted the irony of not working on The Last Guardian while coming up with over fourteen new concepts for games over the last three years.

Once again, this goes to show how the West is superior to Japan, when a Western company is strong enough to pull a major game director from working on Japanese vaporware to working on American vaporware.